Cory Bernardi’s Australian Conservatives about to get more than 500 new Christian members

LIBERAL party defector Cory Bernardi says same-sex marriage is a “rainbow Trojan horse” for Safe-Schools-style gender and sex education programs.

AUSTRALIAN Conservatives senator Cory Bernardi says same-sex marriage is a “rainbow Trojan horse” for radical Safe-Schools-style gender and sexuality education programs.

Defending a Coalition for Marriage advertisement released yesterday, Senator Bernardi told Sky News the ad featured “reasonable concerns” for parents.

“We tried to put a stop to (Safe Schools) because of the perversion that’s going on in some of these areas, but what we’ve seen internationally and you’ve seen it in Canada and in England, where same-sex marriage has been legalised, parents haven’t been able to withdraw their students or their children from these sorts of programs, and that’s why they’re compulsory,” he told Sky News.

“We’ve seen it in a Jewish school in England which didn’t pursue this gender ideology or this gender education that the Safe Schools represents, and they were compelled to put it in there, so these are reasonable concerns for parents.

.@corybernardi: 'Same-sex marriage is a rainbow Trojan horse for getting these sorts of things into schools.' MORE: https://t.co/Ww4yA5TED7 pic.twitter.com/UUx1bqPCJL

— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) August 30, 2017

“They go, ‘why do I want my 11-year-old to imagine that they’re in a same-sex relationship?’”

Senator Bernardi said conservatives had “belled the cat” with Safe Schools founder Roz Ward and the “Marxist agenda” coming out of Victoria’s La Trobe University, where Safe Schools was developed.

“Parents hate this and they know that it is like a rainbow Trojan horse, if I can tell you. Same-sex marriage is a rainbow Trojan horse for getting these things compulsory in schools.”

The comments come as Bernardi’s Australian Conservatives are extending their reach across the country’s conservative political base, with more than 500 members of Victoria’s Australian Christians party expected to join them this week.

The Australian Christians Victorian branch will disband on Friday, with the majority of members indicating to director Jeff Reaney that they will join the Australian Conservatives, reports The Australian .

Australian Conservatives Senator Cory Bernardi. Picture: AAP.

Outgoing Australian Christians Victorian director Jeff Reaney said the decision was driven by the Senate voting reforms passed ahead of last year’s federal election.

This reduced the impact of the party’s preference flows and made contesting elections at a federal level “a wasted effort”, he said.

With a Victorian election due in 2018, Mr Reaney realised “that we would have to do something different”.

RUMOUR CONFIRMED: @AuConservatives expanding in Vic. @AustChrist Vic branch disbanding, members encouraged to transfer. @RossAndJohn

— Lauren Hilbert (@laurenhilbert) August 30, 2017

About half of Victoria’s Australian Christians’ members participated in a vote earlier this month to disband the branch, and of those almost all supported the move, Mr Reaney said.

Mr Bernardi said it was not an amalgamation between his party and the Australian Christians.

“We’ve merely said we’ll welcome their members into our fodder,” he said.

In April, the Australian Conservatives swallowed the Family First party in what Bernardi described as a “natural fit”.

Read more at The Australian.